Automatic liquid vender



J1me 1934- J. M. ALEXANDER AUTOMATIC LIQUID VENDER Filed Jan. 8, 1932 3mm der Patented June 19, 1934 7 1 ,963,575 o HAUTOIMATTC LIQ ID 1 John M. Alexander; Lincoln} Nebr. Application January s, 1932, semi No. 585,513

' 2 Claims. (01 221-103 pensers which are latched against'ioperation and which maybe unlatched only-by the insertion 'of.

19? -Another object of theinvention is the. provision 'ofia releasable latch fora pump, the pump. being arrangedvtoautomaticallyresume. its usual position after the completion. of the pumping stroke and the latch being automatically operable for=preventinga secondpumping stroke until anothercoin of the properdenomination has been inserted.v I v :Another object of'the invention is the provision of-a latch for a pump with a second latch to en ZQiigage the first .mentioned. latch for temporarily holding itout' of latching engagement.

Another-object of .the invention is the provision of a pump having .a pinion "and a rack with op.-

posedmatchetsontthe pinion shaft andpawlsxfor curedto the shaft 21"for.elevatingtheirack 16.

' The drum 20 is moved into interlockingjengage- ..Zengaging-theratchets-one at a time, the pawls being-"shifted into and outof engagement with the respective .ratchets' through the unandldownx' Figure 2. .For reverse'movement of th e:rack 16-" the drum 20 mayhbedrawn away from the drum 23 so'that the rackmay be loweredwithout the 85 strokesioftheipumpa w Havingin' viewitheseobjects and other which will be pointed out in the'following description, I-will now refeitto'the drawing, in which Figure'Y-l is a view in side elevation of the automatic liquid dispenser when the casing is open to disclose .the interior parts, somepof which are broken awayland some of'which are shown sectioned.

:Figure 1A is anelevational viewofia fragment of the structure shown in Figure 1. 1

-'Figure..2.-=is;a view in front elevation of a portion of the mechanism shown in Figure 1; the cas-- ingJbeing removed to disclose the interior struc-.- ture. 1* 'In' my. present arrangement thejoil'. or other liquid :is tobestored inanunderground container I {which is not shown. The outlet pipe 'of this container is c'onnected with a-pump' 11 of any desired form. In the present instance the pumpas shown is theordinary-lifting pump having added thereto. a springor'a'weight for returning "the 50.

with its valve 13 land the piston stem 14; are of commoniconstruction and they may be varied at.

Wi1l The outlet of the pump is shown at 15 to which may be attached any suitablehose con,- 3

necti mi r.deliv ringthe oil; or ot e l quid iiinvention' relates to automatic liquid dis-.

piston to its lowermost position. [The piston 12 rectly into a receptacle or into thecrank case of; the automobile. Thus'far the features are of common construction which have been well and widely known for manyyears. The part shown in.

theldrawing and especially those partsabove the. .5

bottom of the pump casing. 11 areabove ground and so.positioned that the delivery hose 'is'ata convenient height. v

The pump is actuated by means of a rack 16 which is firmly secured to the pistonstem 14, the rack being operated-by means of a pinion 17 which may beturned by means of a hand crank 18 or bya motor or any other suitablesource of; power. By turning the pinion 1'7 ina counter-* clockwise direction as.viewed in Figure lythe rack 16 will be elevated and this will carrywith it-the piston 12 to deliver the liquid through the outlet 15. The rack 16 is lowered byrneansr:

of 'a. spring 19. within the pump casing 11 to.

thus-dispense with the necessity. of loweringthe 5 ment withthe drum'23 in the 'positiomshowndn necessity of turningthe crank.18. The rack 16 is provided with a. latch which normally holds it against 'upward'movement.

' This latch consists of anotch in the rack1for receiving the end of the detent 24. This detent :90, I I is slidably mounted in" a socket containing a spring 25,"the-vspring normally urging the detent 1 into engaging position. Before thev rack 16 can.

be raised-"the detent 24 must be released from:

detent-.must betheld at least temporarily in released position. The detentis therefore providediwith a'corner. cutawayportion 26 for receiving a; secondi'detent 27. LThe :detent .27'is freely :slid'-. able in the supports 28. and. 29,, the support 29 being-hollow and containing .a spring :30which:

'urges the detent 2'7 into"engagement with 'the' detent 24. It is obvious that-when the detent 24' is pushed back against-the action of the springpressure of the thumb on the button 33.

which is operated partly by means of a coin. A spring pressed plunger 31 is provided at one end with a head 32 and at the other end with a button 33 so that it may be pressed inwardly by The head 32 is in axial alignment with the detent 24 but these two parts are spaced apart. In order to close the gap between the head 32 and the detent 24, a coin must be inserted and the coin must be pushed into engagement with the detent 24. The coin, which is shown in outline in its different positions at 34, 34a, and 34b, first enters the mechanism through a chute 35 and then seats against the curved face of the head 32. By pushing on the button 33, the coin is moved through its successive positions first into engagement with the end of the detent 24 and then to push the detent 24 a distance sufficient to clear it of the detent 27. The plunger 31 will immediately resume its normal position and this will then allow the coin to fall away from the detent 24 since the pressure on the coin is re,- moved when the pressure of the head 32 on the coin is released. The passageways for the coin may be varied in numerous ways but in the present instance I have shown an entrance chute 35 with a delivery chute 36 for conducting the coins to any suitable coin box. The action of the coin and of the plunger 31 is such that it releases the rack 16 from latching engagement so as to permit the turning of the shaft 21 to operate the pump. Secured to the shaft 21 are two ratchets 3'7 and 38. These ratchets are opposing ratchets V and they are engageable by the pawls 39 and 40 respectively. These two pawls are so arranged that one or the other of them must be in engagement with its respective ratchet while the other pawl is idle. When the pawl 40 is in engagement with the ratchet 37, the shaft 21 may movement.

be turned in a direction to elevate the rack 16 but the shaft can not be turned in a direction to lower the rack 16. Since the purpose of the invention is to provide a coin operated releasable latch for the rack 16, provision must be made for preventing unscrupulous operators from turning the crank 18 alternately in both direc: tions to thus obtain all the oil that they need by the mere payment of a single coin. The pawl and ratchet mechanism as above described is so "arranged that reciprocatory partial movements of the rack 16 are impossible.

The pawls 39 and 40 are integral parts of a pawl frame which is pivotally connected for rocking movements about the point 41, the fixed support being shown at 42 which may be U-shaped as shown in Figure 2. This pawl frame has'an arm 43 which is connected by means of a tension spring 44 to a fixed portion of the frame at 45. The spring 44 normally urges the pawl 40 into engagement with the ratchet 37. The rack 16 in its lower portion has an arm '46 extending late erally and having a vertical path of movement parallel to that of the rack 16. The arm 46 is so positioned that the arm 43 is in its path of When the rack 16 approaches the upper limit of its movement it comes in contact with the arm 43 to rock the pawl frame against the tension of the spring 44. The rocking of the pawl frame immediately releases the pawl 40 from engagement with the ratchet 3'7 and forces the pawl 39 into engagement with the ratchet 38. Further upward movement of the rack 16 is then impossible but the rack 16 is free to move downwardly in response to the pull of the spring 19.

While the rack 16 is free to move downwardly after the pawl frame has been tripped through contact with the arm 46, the pawl frame would tend to be again tripped under the tension of the spring 44 as soon as the arm 46 is out of contact with the arm 43 and this would stop further downward movement of the rack 16. An additional latch must therefore be provided for maintaining the position of the pawl frame until the rack 16 reaches its lowermost position. This additional latch includes an arm 47 having a hooked end 48 and an arm 49 having a hooked end 50. The arm 4'7 is integral with the pawl frame while the arm 49 is pivotally secured at 51 to a fixed part of the casing. An expansion spring 52 isinterposed between the arm 49 and a fixed portion of the casing, its purpose being to urge the arm 49 toward the arm 47. This movement is limited by means of a fixed stop 53. A movable stop 54 is also employed, this being L-shapecl as shown in Figure 2 and secured to the rack 16 at or near its upper extremity. When in the position shown in Figure l the stop 54 prevents forward movement of the pivoted arm 49. As the rack 16 rises, the stop 54 will clear the arm 49 so that the arm 49 is free to move into contact with the arm 47. The hooked end. is, however, at a slightly higher level than the hooked end .48 so that engagement of the hooked ends with each other is impossible during the upward movement of the rack 16. When, however, the arm 46 engages the arm 43 to trip the pawl frame, the hooks 48 and 50 are brought into engagement with each other to hold the pawl frame in a position to permit the continued downward movement of the rack 16. When the rack approaches the limit of its downward movement the stop. 54

will engage the arm 49 to release the hook 50 from engagement with the hook 48.

At the beginning of the operation the detent 24 was withdrawn from the notch in the rack. 16 and it was latched against reengagement.

tended, it is necessary that the detent 24 be re? leased to again enter the notch of the rack 16 when the detent and notch are in alignment so as to lock the apparatus against further opera: tion until another coin has been inserted. The detent 27 is provided with an arm 55 while an arm 56 is secured to the piston stemf14, the arm 55 being in the path of the free end of the arm 56. When the arm 56 in its upward movement contacts with and bears against the arm 55, it will push the detent 2'7 upwardly against the ac-: tion of the spring 30 to thus release the detent 24 which is then free to slide into the notch in the rack 16.

The vender is to be used with a selective coin mechanism of any desired type. The coin'is dis:

Inorder to operate successfully for the purpose in:

charged from this mechanism through the chute.

35 to its seat against the head 32 after which the.

All other movements are coho l or other liquids which are measured in similar units and which are used by the motorist. With slight changes in the dimensions it may be used for vending gasoline. In other lines of business the vender may be employed for dispensing other liquids. 7

Having thus described my invention in such full, clear, and exact terms that its construction and operation will be readily understood by others skilled in the art to which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a vender for liquids, a pump having a piston, means for normally urging said piston into its lowermost position, a rack secured to said piston and extending upwardly therefrom, a pinion meshing with said rack for elevating said rack, a pair of opposed ratchets associated with said pinion, a pair of pawls engageable one at a time with the respective ratchets, and automatically operable means at the respective ends of said rack for tripping said pawls at the end of each upward or downward stroke to thereby prevent reverse movement of said rack before the completion of the stroke.

2. In a vender for liquids, a pump having a piston, a rack secured to said piston and extending upwardly therefrom, a pinion meshing with said rack, a pair of opposed ratchets secured to said pinion, a pivoted pawl frame having a pair of pawls integral therewith for engagement one at a time with said opposed ratchets, a spring for normally maintaining said pawl frame in position to prevent downward movement of said rack, an arm on said rack for tripping said pawl frame at the end of the upward stroke of said rack to thereby release said rack for downward movement and to latch said rack against further upward movement, a pivoted latch for engaging said pawl frame after it has been tripped by said arm, and a second arm on said rack for releasing said pivoted latch from engagement with said pawl frame at the completion of the downward stroke of said rack.

JOHN M. ALEXANDER. 

